Days Merge

Day four has turned out a little trickier than the previous few days. The problem is… in order to wake up early, I need to fall asleep first. It’s 5:30 AM, and I havent gone to sleep yet. Theres something to be said about good conversation and good company.

I don’t necessarily consider this a disruptive failure though. Why? It was the fourth of July. So what does it mean? It means going to sleep now, and after waking up taking a short nap or two if needed. I’ll see how the day goes. As is expected on a holiday weekend, more family events tomorrow. Luckily they aren’t until the afternoon. The only other plans are housework. If I feel tired or grouchy… 20 minute nap – here I come!

Just to mention, yesterday turned out great. I didn’t feel tired one bit. Accomplished plenty all morning and through the day. On a ride out to a family get together at a lake house I decided to take a 30 minute nap (30 minutes because we were riding in a car, I compensated for the extra distraction time). I woke up right before arrival about 2 minutes early. Felt great the entire time, not tired, and headed home 9ish. At home, lit fireworks, sat by a campfire, and here I am. I am tired now, but I would expect to be so at 22 hours.

I’ll report how today’s wacky sleep schedule turns out, or doesn’t?

Day 3 – Early Riser Attempt

Today marks my third day of becoming an Early Bird and while I didn’t blog out my second day, I haven’t strayed yet. Yesterday was slightly more rough than the first day, I didn’t get up at first sound and slept until about 7 AM. I think it was partially due to the time I fell asleep and also from the baby getting up in the middle of the night. Yes, I am trying this while having a baby in the house less than 6 Months old. The upside is that he doesn’t fuss much at night, he only wakes to eat and slips right back to sleep. Lucky, lucky, lucky.

It’s the Fourth of July and if I were asked more than a week ago what I would be doing this mornin, the first thing I would probably have said is, “Sleeping in for one, that’s for sure”. So what time did I wake up today? My alarm struck at 6:50, and I was out of bed within a minute. Again, I heard the alarm, turned it off, started stretching, and took a deep breath. It wasn’t until I started to situp that I realized what was going on. I love it, because without being awake I rank in the negatives on self-motivation. Now, there’s no decision to be made in the groggy twilight period. I just do it without thinking. The best part? It’s 8:45 and I’ve already had a couple cups of coffee, watched a home improvement show, worked and dug through e-mail, I’m writing this blog, and soon I’ll jump in the shower then make some breakfast for my wife and I. All of this BEFORE I would even be awake prior to my Early Riser change.

Even Better? I’m not tired. I haven’t been tired. I don’t feel the 3 o’ clock slump I see everyone else drag with at work. I don’t feel like I just woke up and accomplished nothing at 3 PM. I’ve built a whole days work by then, and I’m not ready to stop! Another thing I have started is taking a 20 minute nap in the afternoon. This seems to be the perfect length, and it’s been around the early evening. When the baby starts to get sleepy for a nap after I’ve come home for work, I’ll lay with him and set the alarm on my phone. He loves it and goes to sleep easily, I get a quick nap, it’s a win-win situation.

The fun continues!

Nightowl decides to turn Early Bird

I’ve made the decision to take action and become an Early Riser. What’s an early riser? Well to me it’s someone who wakes up before at least 8 in the morning, feels refreshed, and sleeps less than 10-11 hours in a night. Why is that my definition? It’s because I can’t remember a time when I didn’t struggle to wake up before 10 A.M., felt refreshed throughout the entire day, and slept less than 10 hours with the ability to function the next day. I am not an Early Riser. I want to become one.

Recently I stumbled upon Steve Pavlina’s website and one of his blogs was about being an Early Riser. The first thing that struck me was his mention that he sleeps from roughly 10-11 PM until 5 AM… 5:00 AM!!!!! I usually fall asleep around midnight and I can’t get up without feeling completely disconnected until 10-11! How do I do sleep while holding a decent job? I live dazed and confused until roughly 3, then I mentally wakeup. Now on to the better question; How in the world does he go to bed an hour or two before me and get up FIVE hours before I do, and does it feeling refreshed? I read a little further and he mentions scrapping the idea of consciously getting up. To me that is very sensible. Who in the right mind would ever want to get up, especially to go to work! Instead he suggests building a routine, setting yourself on autopilot, and taking over when your actually ready. Seems reasonable.

Yesterday after reading through the Early Riser article I gathered the different ideas and thought sure, I could give this a try. What’s to lose? But here’s where I got a laugh today. That’s pretty much where it ended. I didn’t do any physical dry runs. I didn’t go through any mental wakeup routine practices. I did think of when I wanted to wake up, my wife set the alarm, and VIOLA! BEEP BEEP BEEP…. the alarm sounded at 5:50 AM. Before I realized anything I was already taking a deep breath and stretching. I opened my eyes and started getting up out of bed. It wasn’t until this point that I remembered, “Hey, I actually wanted to get up right away!” And I did! This is a revelation! I actually woke up before my wife. SHE slapped the alarm, and slept in later. Here now going on 3:30 PM, I still feel great. I’m not tired, groggy, disconnected, and I’ve accomplished a ton compared to a ‘normal’ for me.

So for Day 1 of becoming an Early Riser, I declare victory.

I’ll soon find out if Day 2 is a different story.